MOD Police Vehicles

Mr. Hoyle:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the merits of the MoD police purchasing vehicles through a central purchasing agency. [18398]

Dr. Moonie:
The Defence Procurement Agency is the central purchasing agency for the Ministry of Defence. The MOD Police is a Defence Agency and the DPA purchase all vehicles used by the Force in line with standard procurement procedures.

Mr. Hoyle:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what policy the MOD police adopts towards supporting British manufacturing when purchasing vehicles. [18399]

Dr. Moonie:
The Defence Procurement Agency purchase all vehicles for the Ministry of Defence Police on a best value for money basis.

NATO Defence Capabilities Initiative

Mr. Jenkin:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the NATO Defence Capabilities Initiative will report; and if he will make a statement. [18640]

Mr. Hoon:
NATO's Defence Capabilities Initiative was launched at the Washington Summit in April 1999 with a view to addressing shortfalls in military capabilities across the Alliance. The Initiative is overseen by the High Level Steering Group (HLSG), the Chairman of which periodically reports to NATO Defence Ministers. The next report is due to be presented at the December Ministerials, with the HLSG's final report at the Prague Summit next year.

Since 1999 NATO nations have been working hard to implement the DCI. Progress has been made in many capability areas, including interoperability; logistics co-operation; air to air refuelling; air and sealift; and acquisition of precision-guided munitions. The UK's own performance within the Defence Capabilities Initiative compares very well with the Alliance average.

Far East Prisoners of War

Dr. Murrison:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the pick-up rate broken down by condition of the medical screening programme for Far East prisoners of war; and if he will make a statement. [18407]

Dr. Moonie:
There is no medical screening programme for former Far East prisoners of war. The War Pensions Agency does however offer a Tropical Disease Investigation. Arrangements for this are not conditional upon a person being in receipt of a war pension. Since May 2000, Tropical Disease Investigations have been offered to 45 former Far East prisoners of war of whom 15 have accepted and 30 declined.

Military Courses

Mr. Swayne:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the total revenue his Department has received in each of the last 10 years as a result of providing places on UK military courses to overseas service men. [16142]

Mr. Ingram:
The table shows the revenue received by the Ministry of Defence for the period 199192 to 200001 in support of International Training.

28 Nov 2001 : Column: 915W

Year

£ million

199192

63.186

199293

36.793

199394

39.522

199495

34.626

199596

45.907

199697

39.749

199798

19.860

199899

22.765

19992000

22.767

200001

17.709

Divorce (Service Men)

Mr. Swayne:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service men occupying married quarters were divorced in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available. [16144]

28 Nov 2001 : Column: 916W

Dr. Moonie:
I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

Public Service Agreements

Mr. Jenkin:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to renegotiate the public service agreements signed with the Treasury for 2001 to 2004. [18461]

Mr. Hoon:
The Ministry of Defence's Public Service Agreement (PSA) records the key defence outcomes the Government aim to achieve over the Spending Review period. The PSA agreed as part of Spending Review 2000 relates to the period 200102 to 200304. As part of Spending Review 2002, all Departments' PSAs will be reviewed and revised as necessary for the period 200304 to 200506.

28 Nov 2001 : Column: 917W

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Individual Learning Accounts

Mr. Damian Green:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when her Department first received warnings from training providers that the individual learning account scheme was open to fraud. [14580]

John Healey [holding answer 13 November 2001]: My Department actively engaged learning providers in the development of the individual learning accounts programme. For example, a number of seminars were held with learning providers in 2000, prior to the introduction of the national framework for individual learning accounts, and these continued into 2001. At these events providers expressed a wide range of opinions. In September 2000 James O'Brien, Managing Director, Pitman Training, wrote to Ministers to express concern that the programme was open to abuse but that the cap on public support for each individual's ILA account introduced to help control such abuse had been set at too low a level. We have not yet been able to trace any earlier correspondence on the specific topic of potential abuse of the ILA scheme.

Gender Stereotyping

Dr. Kumar:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidance has been issued to careers teachers to challenge preconceptions about girls' and boys' subjects and employments. [16264]

Mr. Ivan Lewis:
Information and good practice to challenge preconceptions about career choices is contained in a number of documents made available by my Department to schools and careers advisers, including "Developing the careers education curriculum in schools", 1999, and "School improvement: how careers work can help", 2000. The issue is also covered by research published by the Equal Opportunities Commission, and in forthcoming guidance by Ofsted on evaluating careers education in schools, which will be issued to schools early in the new year.

The Connexions service works with young people aged between 13 and 19, including those in schools, and subsumes the role of careers services in guiding young people on suitable employment and learning choices. Connexions and careers services work closely with careers teachers to provide comprehensive and impartial information, advice and guidance. They offer training to teachers and other staff so that schools can challenge stereotyping, promote equality of opportunity and engender a wide awareness of opportunities among pupils.

Specialist Schools

Mr. Swire:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many specialist schools have closed since 1997 in (a) England and (b) east Devon. [17269]

Mr. Timms:
One specialist school has closed in England since 1997; this was due to local authority reorganisation. No specialist schools have closed in east Devon. 25 former specialist schools in England no longer have Specialist School status. All of these lost their status since 1997. There were none in east Devon.

28 Nov 2001 : Column: 918W

Mr. Flight:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many specialist schools have closed since 1997 in Arundel and South Downs. [18310]

Mr. Timms:
No specialist schools have closed in Arundel and South Downs since the inception of specialist schools. There are 25 former specialist schools in England which no longer have Specialist School status. All of these have lost their status since 1997. None of them are located in the constituency of Arundel and South Downs.

Mr. Andrew Turner:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills for each specialist school and college in (a) Nottingham and (b) Nottinghamshire, what were its (i) targets associated with specialist status and (ii) success in meeting those targets in the most recent year for which information is available. [18619]

Jean Monnet Chairs

Mr. Bercow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the Jean Monnet (a) chairs and (b) chair occupants funded in the UK by European Community money. [17622]

Margaret Hodge:
Jean Monnet chairs are co-financed by their universities and by the European Commission. The present occupants of the Jean Monnet chairs in United Kingdom and their universities are listed by subject area.